AKIPRESS.COM - India is poised to become the world's most populous country in 2023, surpassing China which has held the position since 1950, Indian media have reported quoting Washington-based think tank Pew Research Centre, The Business Standard reported.

According to the report, the UN expects that India will overtake China in April, though it may have already reached this milestone since the UN estimates are projections.

Pew Research Center after analyses of data from the UN and other sources mentioned key facts about India's population and its projected changes in the coming decades. The report said India's population has grown by more than one billion people since 1950, the year the UN population data begins.

People under the age of 25 account for more than 40 per cent of India's population. Unlike India, the other two most populous countries in the world, China and the US, have rapidly ageing populations.

The fertility rate in India is higher than that of China and the US, but the rate has declined rapidly in the recent decades. Fertility rates, however, vary widely by community type and state in India.

On average, Indian women in urban areas have their first child 1.5 years later than women in rural areas.

Infant mortality in India has decreased by 70 per cent in the past three decades. Typically, more people migrate out of India each year than into it, resulting in negative net migration, the report said.

This shift will have significant economic implications for both Asian giants, which have more than 1.4 billion people each.

Along with the population data, China also reported one of its worst economic growth numbers in nearly half a century, underscoring the steep challenges the country faces as its labour force shrinks and the ranks of the retired swell.

For India, what economists and analysts call the “demographic dividend” could continue to support rapid growth as the number of healthy workers increases.